The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday orally posed four questions to the Uttar Pradesh government and asked it to ensure that no selective action is taken pursuant to the demolition notices issued against some house owners who were allegedly involved in the October 13 violence at Bahraich. The court orally asked the Yogi Adityanath government to not do anything which is not in accordence with law.
The court was hearing a PIL moved by the Association For Protection of Civil Rights, challenging the Uttar Pradesh Government's proposed action to demolish properties belonging to those accused in the Bahraich violence case.
The bench today posed four questions to the Uttar Pradesh government. The high court asked the UP Govt to reply to the following four aspects of the matter specifically:
1) Whether a survey and demarcation were done as per the relevant law before issuing notices to private citizens?
2) Whether the state undertook a survey to ascertain if the people who have been issued notices, are the real owners of the property or if some of them are just tenants.
3) Whether the notices are issued by the appropriate authorities.
4) Whether the demolition notices are issue for entire properties or parts of it.
Justice Masoodi further remarked that the court can take suo moto notice of the issue of civil liberties. The court posted the matter for next week and asked the counsel appearing for state to ensure meanwhile that nothing is done which is not in accordance with law.
On October 22, the Uttar Pradesh government told the Supreme Court that authorities won't act on demolition notices issued against the properties of accused persons in the Bahraich violence case till the matter is heard.
The assurance came after Senior Advocate CU Singh mentioned the plea challenging the notices issued to three accused persons in the Bahraich violence. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the pleas tomorrow and asked the Uttar Pradesh government to not take action on notices till Wednesday.
A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan said that if the Uttar Pradesh authorities want to take risk of flouting our order, it's their choice.
Recently, three persons accused of Bahraich Violence filed intervention application against proposed demolitions alleging the notices to be "Buldozer Action" by the UP government. The stay order till tomorrow came after the top court was told that the Allahabad High Court has extended notice time to 15 days from 3 days, but has not granted any stay.
The application has been filed in the Supreme Court by three persons accused in the incidents of violence in Uttar Pradesh's Bahraich that occurred on October 13, 2024 against the demolition notices they have received from authorities for proposed demolition.
The IA seeks stay of demolition as well as the notices issued to the three persons by authorities. The IA quotes a statement of local MLA where it was allegedly said that the administration has pasted a demolition notice on the illegally constructed house of the main accused Abdul Hameed, and the next action will be seen very soon.
Recently, while staying demolition across country without court permission, the top court had said that house of a person cannot be demolished merely because he is an accused or a convict in another crime. The top court further said that it will lay down pan-India guidelines to prevent abuse of municipal laws.
Three persons named in the FIRs registered related to the Bahraich violence, who are hawkers and farmers by occupation, claim that the properties for which notices have been issued are 10-70 years old. They have moved the top court claiming that the proposed demolition of their